I found this on a recipe-ezine of all places, but it really touched me! Don't we all have an "Ancestoria" created of our individual heritages? Karla -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ......my piece of land, Ancestoria, has no seeable boundaries. My land is in my heart and soul and mind, and is comprised of all those who have gone before and taught me. It is in my father's kitchen, where I learned to make meat loaf. It is in my Aunt Mary's house where I learned to make sweet orange lemonade. It is in my Aunt Angie's handwriting where she gave me her secret spice cake recipe. It is in my mother-in-law's heart, where she lovingly taught me to make the risotto that her son loves. It is on the smile of my middle son's face when I still make his favorite cake for his birthday. Ancestoria is with me always, and I hope it will continue to wave its imaginary flag in the hearts of my children and grandchildren long after this queen has ended her rule. Linda Garavaglia -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "...but those memories I have will be gone all too soon, leaving this world at the same time I do... just as the memories of my grandfathers and great-grandmothers left with them, and unless they are given and passed on, it is as if those things had never been..."